A Pre-Christmas Visit

We managed to fit in a visit to Parkham before Christmas around family birthdays and weddings in other parts of the country.  It was a just a short visit to refresh us before the Christmas festivities begin in earnest although we arrived in time for the annual carol singing in The Bell.  It is not surprising that it has taken a few months for the pub to get back that atmosphere of comfort, homeliness and companionship associated with the 'Old Bell'.  However, Christmas has done just that helped by the amazing decorations throughout the building.  The carol singing was enjoyed by all as were the mince pies and mulled wine kindly supplied by Rachel and Mike.

Not anticipating good weather we had come prepared with a load of Christmas Cards to write and get into the post.  It was much easier buying stamps and sending letters abroad from the small post office in Bucks Cross with no long queues.  We did however have a couple of lovely days when the sun came out and we only got completely drenched on one occasion when walking the dog.

We had several walks around the village and the youngest of the 4 village donkeys (born earlier this year) was getting very brave and wanting to get as close as possible to the dog.

We tried to ensure that we saw all our village friends whilst we were at The Granary to wish them a Merry Christmas and enjoyed being the first visitors for tea at our close friends new cottage at Northway, even before they have moved in themselves.

Packing the car in the rain was not fun and the rain continued unabated for our journey homeward  where we also unpacked in the rain.  We now look forward to our visits in 2019!

The last days of a sunny Autumn

A shorter stay in Parkham than usual this month because of family commitments in the Midlands and North-West. However, we did manage to catch the last of the autumn sunshine before colder, more wintry weather arrived.

We were able to take advantage of our newly installed remote thermostat and turned the heating up using the phone app an hour or so before we arrived. It was so nice to open the front door to a comfortably warm cottage.

Our October visit had coincided with half-term in some parts of the country but now everywhere was much quieter -  we parked easily at Instow for a lovely sunny afternoon walk with with friends and their dog, followed by a refreshing cup of tea at Johns .

There are some lovely views to be had as we walk around the village lanes every day and we try and absorb them for calming refreshment when we are back in the busy Midlands.  This one from the footpath leading directly from our lane is a favourite.

We visited Westward Ho! at the weekend, in the summer it can be very busy but now it was quiet with wonderful views across the beach where in the distance you can see across the estuary to Saunton.

For some time we have been meaning to call in at High Park Farm near Littleham where the farmer has set up the Milkiosk. Here you can buy pasteurised whole milk by the litre from an automatic vending machine, using reusable bottles, also supplied. The milk is £1 per litre which compares with the 30p which is the average price farmers receive from the diaries.  As skimmed milk drinkers we found the milk too creamy for tea but great for porridge in the mornings. It is good to support this enterprising  initiative by a local farmer and we shall top our bottle up again on our next visit to Devon.

Autumn in North Devon

Our October visit to Parkham coincided with that of Storm Callum so we were faced with some very strong winds and heavy rains.  Luckily the local builder had been able to make a temporary repair to a leaking roof in the preceding week and to date we have had no problems.  The plan is to implement the full repair next spring /summer when the conditions are better.
Despite the rain we still managed to get out and about without being soaked in the lulls between the showers and, when Sunday arrived, it was a beautiful day.

We decided to visit Morwenstow again, somewhere we had not been for several years.  It looks a fair way on the map but is only a 30 minute journey from Parkham into North Cornwall.  We parked by the beautiful church, parts of which date back to the 12th Century.

The church is most famous for  its links with the 19th century cleric, poet and eccentric, the Rev. R. S. Hawker, Vicar from 1834 to 1875.  Hawker was a deeply compassionate person and carried the bodies of shipwrecked sailors up the steep cliffs to give them a Christian burial.  The figurehead of the ship Caledonia, which foundered in September 1842, marks the grave in the churchyard of five of the nine-man crew.  In fact the original figurehead is now protected in the church and there is a replica outside.  Perhaps I am showing my age but it does remind me of the characters in Captain Pugwash!

A highlight of our visit was our first opportunity to drink in the newly restored Bell.  Although we had a guided tour of the pub a month previous it was very different to see the pub populated with locals on a busy Friday evening.  The atmosphere of the 'old Bell' was back and Rachel and Mike fully deserve thanks and support for the effort they have had to put in to get the pub open again over many months. On another occasion we sampled the food for the first time in almost 2 years.

It had been some months since we had visited one of our favourite places, RHS Rosemoor  but this time we were able to make it and see the wonderful autumnal colours.  Many of the roses were in full bloom with a second flowering, unusual for the middle of October.  In the greenhouse there was a display of the gathered pumpkins and squashes.

The weather improved towards the end of our stay and we were able to enjoy more coastal walks.  We often end up in Appledore at Market St Kitchen tearooms - the view across towards Instow from the quay was as calm as we have ever seen it.

We enjoyed celebrating the 'retirement' of friends from their holiday cottage business at Northway -  it was visits to Northway going back over the past thirteen years that cemented our love affair with North Devon.  It was sad to visit to the cottage complex with no holidaymakers around but great to be with friends as they begin a new chapter of their life. The paddocks where the petting goats, rabbits and chickens lived were now empty but sadly no home has been found for the two ponies used for conservation grazing. We are asking around our friends in the Midlands and in Parkham to see if they have space - do contact me  if you know anyone who might be interested!

We were sad to be leaving Parkham on another sunny morning but the good weather should give the opportunity to catch up with gardening back in the Midlands before the cold weather forecast for the end of the week arrives.

John Savage  http://northdevonadventure.blogspot.com/

September Visitors

Whilst Autumn had arrived (according to the meteorologists) when we returned to Parkham in September we still enjoyed  some lovely sunny days and a few showery ones.

We welcomed visitors to the Granary.  It was their first visit to Parkham and we enjoyed showing them out favourite places in the locality as well as local walks around the village.  Now that the drainage has been improved on the footpath at the bottom of Rectory Lane it makes a nice walk with the dog and the views across towards Exmoor (or is it Dartmoor) are amazing.

Showing friends the area for the first time serves to remind you just how beautiful it all is.  They were amazed at the 360 degree views from the dunes at Greysands  at Northam Burrows and the wonderful rolling hills as we travelled from the village.

We took our visitors to Buckland Brewer for an excellent meal at the Coach and Horses but it will be good to be able to take our next visitors next door to The Bell!  We were lucky enough to have a second guided tour around the pub which is looking fantastic, although Rachel and Mike are going to be very busy over the next few weeks preparing for the opening.

The local hedgerows have been laden with blackberries for the last month or so and we were still able to enjoy fresh blackberries with yogurt and cooked with apples.

We have been having some problems with occasional leaks in the roof of The Granary lounge extension and have decided that the time has come for  a new roof.  We got estimates from a number of contractors and were pleased to have selected a local builder who will do the job for us.

It looks as if our journeys to and and from Midlands are going to become extended with the planned work to improve the A361 over the coming years however, long term it will make the journey safer with more dual carriageway sections.  Fortunately we are able to chose to travel at the quietest time and on this occasion we managed to time our return journey to avoid the delays near Tiverton.  However the M5 was a little slow as  tragically there had a been a fatal accident on the other carriageway earlier in the day.

A fond farewell!

As we began our August trip to Parkham the fantastic weather was just beginning to break however we still had a great two weeks catching up with friends and visiting our favourite haunts.  In fact the slightly cooler weather meant we were less restricted in when we could go for long walks with the dog.

Most mornings we begin our day with a walk around the village.  The shorter version includes using the public footpath which passes through the church graveyard, we sometimes wonder how some of the  more ancient headstones manage to stay up at such precarious angles.

The longer walk of about two miles includes more of the country lanes where we always enjoy seeing the Devon Ruby Red cattle in the fields and the amazing far-reaching views of the countryside.

The two nearest beach walks are Bucks Mills and Greencliff, both a 10 minute or so drive from the village.  We think of Bucks Mills as a non-commercialised version of Clovelly, when the tide is out there are also some good expanses of sand.  Greencliff involves a 10 minute walk following  a grassy route down to the coast path where you can chose to carry on down to the pebbly beach or take the coast path right towards Westward Ho! or left towards Clovelly.

Coast Path at Greencliffe

Bucks Mills

Our favourite walk with the dog is still the Greysands/Skern end of Northern Burrows.  Here there is grassland, dunes and sandy beach and some fantastic views across to Appledore, Instow and Saunton.  Despite it being the middle of August it was still quiet at all these spots with many of the holidaymakers being at the more popular spots such as Westward Ho!

View of Appledore

Our visit was tinged with sadness as we said goodbye to some of our oldest local friends, who have now moved 50 or so miles away.  We stayed at the holiday cottage on their smallholding at Parkham Ash on many occasions before we bought The Granary and they were also regulars at The Bell.  They were given a good send-off by their many friends at the local pub in Buckland Brewer, a month later and it could well have been at The Bell!  The village pub is very close to completion but like all these projects it is the finishing off that takes the time.  The temporary bar in the Village Hall was open for its last Friday allowing Rachel and Mike the opportunity to focus on preparing the pub for opening.

When not out walking the remainder of our time was spent with friends in the village or at The Granary relaxing with a good book.  On our visits we nearly always spend at least some time catching up on maintenance jobs.  This time we decided the fence around the small garden area needed another coat of preservative -  although not a long fence it cannot be sprayed and painting took up most of a very sunny day!

Newly treated fence!

The plants in containers in the garden have survived the summer well, thanks to kindly neighbours and are still providing a colourful display.  One of the final jobs before leaving was to give them all a good watering.

Not wanting to be caught out by traffic on the motorway we left our departure until 4.00 pm on Saturday and had one of our best ever journeys with no heavy traffic and a quiet service station when we stopped for a tea break.

Phew...what a scorcher!

The excellent weather has continued into July and we were surprised to find that the young plants we had planted in containers on our last visit had survived without water.  We had mixed water retaining granules into the compost which must have helped however, we later learned that a very kind neighbour had taken pity on the dried up plants and given everything a good watering in our absence. The weather was clearly suiting the lavender border which we planted four years ago from cuttings and is now a great attraction for the bees.

Inside the cottage we were delighted to see that the local painter and decorator had been to redecorate the kitchen-diner, stairs and hallway and also that a new washbasin had been installed in  the bathroom.  The previous wash-basin having more to do with style than substance with a very limited capacity and awkwardly placed tap.  The next challenge will be getting an invoice out of the decorator, it was several months last time he did some work for us.

The very hot weather meant that walks with the dog were restricted to first thing in the morning or late evening although when there was  cloud cover we managed some day-time walks.

We visited Hele Bay near Ilfracombe and decided to walk into the town over Hilsborough  which is a nature reserve.  The weather turned out to be sunnier and the path much steeper and longer than we had expected so that we arrived  in Ilfracombe keen to find some shade where we could recover.  We took the shorter route back following the road which was much easier!

The view of Hele Bay from Hilsborough

The view of Ilfracombe harbour from Hilsborough

We lunched with friends at the Glorious Oyster, a beach shack cafe with beach garden located on the edge of the sand dunes at Instow https://www.thegloriousoyster.co.uk/ .  Excellent food in a lovely situation.  Luckily the school holidays had not begun as we understand that there can be very long queues of holidaymakers aware of the cafe's reputation as one of three finalists in the BBC Radio 4 Food Programmes Food and Farming Awards for street food/take away in 2016.

We also visited  some of our usual haunts including the Skern where the seaweed was an amazing bright green in the sunshine. The sea holly in the sand dune area was also  in flower so we trod very carefully as we walked across.

Looking across to Appledore from Skern

Sea Holly

We completed a few other jobs around The Granary and also had a new gas boiler installed courtesy of the Torridge District Council energy saving scheme.  The boiler will have a thermostat which we can control on a phone app so that we should not have to arrive to a bitterly cold Granary on our visits during the winter months.

Once again we caught up with our friends some of whom had been on their own travels and we visited the temporary bar in the village hall.  Work on the pub is moving at a pace with the lime rendering completed to the exterior and the decorators very busy inside.  We should be much closer to completion of the work when we visit next month although there is clearly much to be done - including fitting out the bar and the kitchens.

Still shining in June

Another great visit to Parkham where the sun was shining for much of the time and where water-butts are now empty with no rain for several weeks.
The hedgerows around the village are still looking beautiful, now with the red campion and buttercups in full flower.

We enjoyed walks around the village and were pleased to get a photo of this year's donkey foal.  The braying of the donkeys is often heard as we relax in The Granary garden.

Progress continues to be made on The Bell as the final touches to the thatching are completed, clearly some shaping is still needed above the upstairs windows.

And the good news is that an August opening is now being planned.
Further afield we walked around Northam Burrows and the Skern where the sound of the skylarks filled the air.

We did a few jobs around the cottages including repainting the handrail and replacing an outside light.  Despite being around 3 miles as the crow flies from the sea, salt and the damp weather means that varnish and paintwork do not last long and metal corrodes very quickly.  I also refreshed the garden pots and containers. The pansies planted last September had done very well but are now replaced with osteospermum, they were well watered before we left and hopefully there will be a few spells of rain  before we are back in Parkham.  I will take a photograph next month, assuming they survive.

We were also able to catch up with many friends and visited the Puffing Billy at Torrington for lunch in the former railway cafe garden https://www.puffingbillydevon.co.uk/ .  We were also invited to Abbotsham for a charity Cream Tea, scones served of course the Devon way!

The sun was still shining when we set off back to Stourbridge where it had clearly been equally sunny judging by the blooms on our patio clematis plants.

and May Sunshine!

Just back from a week in Parkham where, but for one dull and dreary day, the sun has shone more or less continually.  The good weather seems to improve everyone's mood in the village after what has been a long, cold and wet winter and spring.  Seeing The Bell with much of the scaffolding down also cheers everyone.  The new thatch looks fantastic in the sunshine and the whole pub is looking, externally at least, close to its former glory.

We were privileged to have a guided tour round the pub and it was good to see the building taking shape internally although sadly, a September opening date is now most likely.

The village celebrated the 'Royal Wedding' in a big way and it was good to share in the celebrations with our many friends.  The Parish Council provided a ploughman's lunch for all parishioners in the village hall where the wedding was projected on to a big screen (newly painted wall) and the bar was available for those of us not so interested in the festivities.

When we were not out enjoying sunny beach walks we also began to tidy up the garden for the summer.  The damp Devon weather means that the decking and steps to the front door need treating on an annual basis,  and the weather was for perfect for drying the two coats required.  The fresh growth on the ferns which grow naturally in the dry-stone wall was looking beautiful and the winter flowering pansies in pots were still flowering well.

Our visit was shortened slightly when we had the happy news that our third grandchild had arrived  on the scene a month earlier than anticipated. We headed home in the sunshine,admiring  the wonderful Devon scenery but very much looking forward to meeting up with the latest addition to our extended family.

April Sunshine

We managed to time our April visit to Parkham well and enjoyed the first real spell of sunny weather after what had been a very cold and wet Spring to date.

The fine weather meant we were able to enjoy a number of beach walks as well as another trip to RHS Rosemoor.  At Rosemoor the star attraction for us was the display of tulips which were taking over from the narcissi.

Back at the Granary we had our own more limited display of tulips which had partly been designed to hide the skips in the pub car park next door, where the reconstruction work is progressing at a pace.

With no bar in the village hall for the week whilst the landlady was on holiday, (prior to a busy few months preparing for the reopening of The Bell in July) we made our way to the next village, Buckland Brewer to meet up with friends for an early evening drink at the Coach and Horses.

Banks of primroses were brightening all the Devon lanes  - ‘Whether carpeting a glade or peeping from a February hedgebank, it makes joy and thanksgiving in the hearts of humanity...’ Rev’d Keble Martin & Gordon T Fraser (1939) in Flora of Devon.

By the time we were leaving for the Midlands the bluebells were also coming into flower, encouraged by the warm sunshine.

Arriving home in pouring rain we have not yet had the chance to see how our own bluebells are doing!

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Back at last!

We finally made it down to Parkham for a few days now that medical issues are finally under control.  It was so good to be back and to receive a fantastic welcome from our many friends in the village.
The most important news is that good progress is being made on The Bell and there is loads of activity from a variety of trades including the thatcher.

If you look carefully on the picture below you can just see a corner of the completed thatching.

The targeted date for opening is 1st July which is earlier than anticipated, lets hope the target can be hit!

We were lucky with the weather on this occasion and had a couple of lovely sunny days for beach walking where we re-visited some of our favourite haunts.  I took the opportunity to test out my new camera which has much better zoom lens than my old camera or phone.

View of Appledore from Skern

Whilst the Appledore lifeboat is only a speck on the photo above, the zoom lens brought the boat into focus,  I am looking forward to using it for some wildlife shots.

Walking round the estuary from Skern we saw the damage caused by the recent storm damage including the 8th tee of the Royal North Devon Golf Club.

We met up with some new friends in Instow for a cup of tea and enjoyed a stroll with dogs on the beach.

The View of Appledore from Instow

On our journey down the first primroses were appearing in the Devon lanes and when we made our return journey 5 days later many more were in bloom, a sure sign that spring has arrived.

A fleeting visit

Things have been a bit quiet on this blog as I have been pre-occupied withe health issues (not mine) and unable to get back down to Parkham.
I have just returned from an overnight trip to check over The Granary and it was good to find that all was in order.  We are so lucky to have fantastic neighbours who keep an eye on things for us.

 

It was great to be back in the village despite the falling snow as I drove up the drive.
I took the opportunity to catch up with several of our friends whilst I was in the village and had a lovely walk around on a lovely sunny morning.  It was encouraging to see real progress on The Bell with the external walls complete and rafters in place.  Thatching of the roof is to be completed in the near future and then of course there is all the internal work to be done.
It was  a shame to have to return to the Midlands after only one night but hopefully we will both be able to return for a much longer visit before too long.